Cantabria, a small region located in northern Spain also known as the “green Spain”, is home to a combination of mountain and coastland landscapes due to the closeness of the high mountains along its southern boarder, and the Atlantic coast along the northern border. Over 80% of its population is aggregated around Cantabria’s 220km strip of coastline that harbours some of the largest estuaries of the Iberian peninsula. ​

Principal climate change challenges

Cantabria is suffering different climate risks related to extreme weather events (heatwaves, flooding and droughts) that lead to different impacts from local to catchment scale (e.g., soil erosion, water impairment episodes, large wildfires, loss of agriculture production). Moreover, sea level rise and ocean storms threaten key urban areas, where most of the population in the region lives. ​

Existing strategic engagements

Santander Natural Capital is a project led by Santander City Council, whose main objective is to strengthen the role of the urban green areas in the conservation of biodiversity at a local level, enhancing the ecosystem services in order to improve the quality of life of the citizens of Santander. To achieve this, it relies on strategic planning, citizen participation and the involvement of Santander’s population.

This project will run until December 2025 and the partnership includes Santander City Council, SEO/BirdLife, the Amica Association, the Foundation for Climate Research and the University of Cantabria.

Santander Natural Capital is supported by the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) in the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, funded by the European Next Generation EU recovery funds.

©Humedal Parque Las Llamas – SEOBIRDLIFE 

Cantabria details its actions for the fight against climate change in a strategic framework (currently under review). Moreover, the region is developing the Cantabria Regional Strategy for Green Infrastructure, expected to be completed within the NBRACER project timeframe, integrating the lessons learned from this project. The city of Santander is also developing strategic adaptation plans to climate change risks and to increase BDV in the urban environment, which will be synchronised with NBRACER activities.​

As a Demonstrating region, Cantabria and Santander aim to complete their strategies for enhancing climate resilience at different spatial scales (from local to landscape scale) and to monitor and assess an array of implemented solutions to learn from them, update their adaptation pathways accordingly, and assess their potential for upscaling.